Expert tells Post that circumstantial evidence could help police prove Rose was killed deliberately.
By DAN IZENBERGRon Ronnie rose grandfather 224 88(photo credit: Channel 10)
Even though Rose Pizem's autopsy could not determine the cause of her death, the state prosecution could still charge her grandfather, Ronnie Ron, with murder, criminal law expert Prof. Emmanuel Gross, of the Haifa University, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Ron confessed to police that he killed his granddaughter accidentally by striking her because she was disturbing him while he was driving.
He also confessed to having stuffed her body in the suitcase she was carrying with her and dumping it in the Yarkon River.
On this basis, it may be possible to charge Ron with manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
The Penal Law also includes a lesser charge of causing death by negligence, which is described as causing death "by lack of caution or by a rash or careless act, which does not amount to culpable negligence." This charge carries a maximum sentence of three years.
However, there is also a possibility that Ron will be charged with murder, a crime that requires proof of a premeditated act.
The police have Ron's confession that he killed her, though not with premeditation. If they can add sufficiently persuasive circumstantial evidence to the confession, they may be able to prove that he killed Rose deliberately.
One example of circumstantial evidence is motive, Gross explained. If the prosecution can demonstrate that Rose was a nuisance to Ron and that he wanted her out of his life, this plus the confession could be enough to convince the court that he murdered her.
Gross pointed out that according to Article 300(a) (1) of the Penal Law, if a person is convicted of willfully causing the death of his father, mother, grandmother or grandfather by an unlawful act or omission "he is guilty of murder and is liable to life imprisonment and only that penalty."
In other words, in such a case, even if the person committed manslaughter, the court would have to convict him of murder and send him to life imprisonment.
Gross said the law did not conceive of the opposite circumstance, in which, as in the case of Rose Pizem, the grandfather kills his granddaughter in an act of manslaughter. He said this was a lacuna which should be corrected immediately.
Under existing law, however, it would not be possible for a court to convict Ron of murder if it was not convinced that the killing was premeditated, even though the victim was his granddaughter.
Gross also said he believed the law should be changed so that a person convicted of murder within the family could never be pardoned.
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